In the News April 2010-April 2011

“In the years since 9/11 they continued to follow the AF/Pak story closely, ultimately writing a book entitled Invisible History: Afghanistan’s Untold Story. Their latest effort, Crossing Zero: The AfPak War at the Turning Point of American Empire, examines what they call ‘the bizarre and often paralyzing contradictions of America’s strategy’ in the region.”

“Hekmatyar and what he represents about U.S. policy in Afghanistan is featured heavily in a new book called Crossing Zero: the AfPak War at the Turning Point of American Empire by Elizabeth Gould and Paul Fitzgerald. Gould and Fitzgerald have a long history of covering Afghanistan. Following from their 2009 book Invisible History: Afghanistan’s Untold Story, in this new book, they explore the war’s expansion into Pakistan, its various contradictions, and consequences for the region.” Apr 4, 2011 -KPFK, uprisingradio.org

“In Elizabeth Gould and Paul Fitzgerald’s book, ‘Crossing Zero’, a dire depiction of a waning U.S. empire is made. As a lone super-power, what if we faced the Truman doctrine of containment—except directed at us—restraining American power instead of protecting it?”

“A U.S. Predator drone missile strike killed up to 40 innocent civilians in Pakistan’s tribal area on Thursday, outraging Pakistani government and military officials. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the ‘irrational’ attack and said it will ‘only strengthen [the] hands of radical and extremist elements.’

Elizabeth Gould and Paul Fitzgerald, two renowned experts on Afghanistan, see this as yet another illustration of waning American power, reminiscent of another empire that tried to once dominate the region.”

“Since the end of the cold war, the U.S. had been looking for an enemy to match the Soviet Union and came up empty handed until 9/11. Refocusing the efforts of the world’s largest and most expensive military empire on Al Qaeda would provide the incentive for a massive re-armament, just the way the Soviet “invasion” of Afghanistan had done two decades before. According to a Washington Post report within nine years of America’s invasion of Afghanistan, hunting Al Qaeda had become the raison d’être of the American national security bureaucracy employing 854,000 military personnel, civil servants and private contractors with more than 263 organizations transformed or created including the Office of Homeland Security. The sheer scope of the growth and the extensive privatization of intelligence and security was so profound that it represented ‘an alternative geography of the United States, a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in oversight.’”

“Paul Fitzgerald has written a brilliant article on the legality, consequences and long term blowback from the policy to continue drone attacks in a sovereign country. He starts off with a conversation between Willam Roper and Sir Thomas More, the Renaissance man in medieval Britain.”

“The region today delineated as both Afghanistan and Pakistan has known many borders over the millennia, yet none have been more artificial or contentious than the one today separating Pakistan from Afghanistan known as the Durand line but referred to by the military and intelligence community as Zero line. A funny thing happened to the United States when the Obama administration decided to cross Zero line and bring the Afghan war into Pakistan. Instead of resolution, after nearly two years into the administration’s AfPak strategy, it would seem the gap between reality and the Washington beltway has only widened.”

“Elizabeth Gould and Paul Fitzgerald provide their expert news analysis on Afghanistan and Pakistan. The threat to these journalists from War Lord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s U.S. representative, and in Pakistan.

And journalist Muhammad Khurshid describes threats to civilians, journalists, political figures, and others, as a month of April terror continues to unfold in Pakistan. Journalists are being threatened by various forces including government ones, he says, and he blames the US, and US dollars to corrupt actors in the region and leaders is adding fuel to the fires of war.”

-Dori Smith, Talk Nation Radio Apr 21, 2010

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